hermusings's Reviews (303)

This book has been describes as reading a diary but it’s more than that.

It’s sitting late at night with a good friend as they tell you the story of their life through the details and intricacies that matter most to them. 

I’ve said this book may have turned me into a memoir reader but really it has turned me into a Michelle Zauner fan.

She’s the friend at the end of the couch making me sob as she explains her grief and loss whilst also making me hungry as she describes the latest dish she’s made.

It’s raw, sad, complex but above all beautiful. 

If you’re sentimental and nostalgic, this book will hit you like a truck. I went into this book thinking it was going to be a clear love story between a wife & her lost husband (and a love triangle, of course). But it was actually about how loving someone evolves the same way we grow & change as humans.

It‘s moving, suspenseful and honestly, heartbreaking at times. 

This is my first time reading one of TJR earlier works, which you can feel by the way she writes the characters yet it has that depth that her more current books are loved for. It’s cool to see how she’s grown as a story teller.

I love the way Danielle L Jensen submerges you into these heist/battle scenes in exciting.

I also appreciate that she cares about the plot and how regardless of what’s going on with the MCs you can feel the political toll of what’s currently going on in these countries.

Lara and Aren’s love for each other is so strong and yet complicated. It adds an extra layer to the suspense that Jensen builds. 

Biggest downfall of this book for me was how much I had to suspend my disbelief towards the end. The ending felt a bit rushed and some loose ends felt carelessly tied.

i.e. the sharks not eating Lara or all the physical things she did whilst 70% of her blood gushed out of her…

Yet the only thing I would have changed from this story is to

ended it as a tragedy. I think Lara should have died and the decision to keep her alive almost soured the ending even more.

At face value, this book is about Casey. Her mother has recently passed away, is in crumbling debt, and finds herself falling for two different men. 

Yet the true heart of this novel is the writing it self. The way King writes about despair, excitement and confusion. It’s like a look into a women’s life at a time where society does not value it and how her relationships with everyone in her life have and are shaping her.

It’s clever, profound and cathartic.

I wish I could read it for the first time again.

This book is…
1. A funny, lovely and complex romance
2. A love letter to NYC 
3. Cathartic for the perfectionist & ambitous
4. A story about the complexities of grief and family, specially for eldest daughter.

It’s all these things and so much more. 

Also, if Emily Henry ever decides she wants to release the books she writes within her books, I will be first in line to purchase those.

It’s well written but unfortunately just not engaging. Every diversion from the plot ties in but it does not increase intrigue into these characters and their motives. 

This was engaging and fast. I couldn’t put it down.

It feels predictable as you start guessing what’s going to happen but by the time it ends you realize that it’s really a book about enjoying the present. Which is ironic since both me,as the reader, and Dannie, the MC, are constantly looking to see how she’s going to end up in the moment from her dream/vision. 

Katrina and Nathan’s love story is complex, messy and raw. The writing in this book makes you hang by every bit of this slow burn. You truly see the conflicting perspectives of Nathan and Katrina whilst also understanding the depth of their compatibility.

This is literary fiction steeped in romance à la Emily Henry or Taylor Jenkin Reid. 

Great engaging story. 
From the first moment you’re on this journey with Hannah to figure out what is going on with her husband. 

I truly enjoyed the way Hannah and Bailey were written & how you can feel both their despair and hope during this adventure.

I do think the third act of the book felt rushed and not as developed as the start but overall enjoyable.